MyPhoneRiches

3G iPhone Downloads

Tony’s Tips ~ Refreshing your Network

Airplane Mode, Blog, Dropped Calls, Poor Signal, Refresh Network, Site Things, airplane, network

Love it, hate it, or simply not care, iPhone users, at least here in the states, are pretty much bound to AT&T. I won’t speak for everyone, but for me, in the Valley of the Sun, this means dropped calls, loss of signal, and failed MMS messages, all while still showing full bars. Granted a lot of these have gotten better since the recent release of 3.1.2 , or the Chi-Town Update as I like to call it (If you’re from the midwest you understand).

Better doesn’t mean perfect though and I’ve personally gotten sick of doing hard resets (hold down the sleep/wake & the home button for 10 seconds) to get my calls to go through. Reseting Network Settings seemed to do the trick as well but isn’t really any quicker and then you loose all the wifi network information and passwords stored in your phone. What’s the answer? It’s simpler then you might think, Airplane Mode. As it turns out toggling on Airplane mode for 15 seconds and toggling it back off forces the phone to reset it’s cellular calibration and re-lock on to a near by tower. 15 seconds is still a minor annoyance, sure, but it really is minor when considering how much longer the alternatives can take.

wifi with airplane mode Airplane

*Here’s a bonus tip for this week also, this one goes out to all of the parents with youngsters running around out there. As the world changes and iPhone games start being developed for younger and younger children, kids are going to want to play with Mommy and Daddy’s phone more and more. An obvious concern here are the accidental phone calls a child might make to China while trying to play with Curious George. An easy solution, turn on that Airplane mode again. Sure it won’t stop the most malicious of kids out there trying to make calls but for the innocent ones it poses as an extra level of protection that will work the majority of the time.
**P.S. Wifi can still be turned back on without cellular service being active, important in case the games are online based or if you still need to hear incoming e-mail.

Iphone Media
3G iPhone Downloads!


Aera

Aera, Games, Reviews, airplane, biplane, dogfight, iChromo
Developer: iChromo
Price: $2.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0

Graphics / Sound Rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 4.35 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 4.45 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 3.4 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 4.12 out of 5 stars

I covered Aera back in July right when I saw the very first released screenshots from iChromo. Coming from a seemingly small developer and being so unique, I felt like it was my civic duty to show everyone the sheer beauty of the game. I knew that the screenshots were from a very early build, but they were already something to behold.

IMG_0274

After a good three month wait, Aera finally dropped onto the App Store. I knew the game would be pretty, but I really had no idea what I was expecting in terms of gameplay. What we have here is a hybrid 3D biplane shooter on a two dimensional playing field. Basically, your plane can move only backwards and forwards along the screen, allowing for as many twists and (up and down) turns as you feel like performing. The controls of the game are quite simple. All of the games movement uses tilt controls, and they are quite fluid, allowing this game to work as well as it does. Moving the plane up and down requires just a quick tilt your phone to the right and left, while performing a quick tilt away from you flips your plane upside down. Other touch controls include the ability to touch anywhere on the right edge of the screen to shoot, a rechargeable speed boost in the top left, and homing missiles/mines on the bottom, which are undoubtedly pretty useful.

IMG_0280

The entire game includes 10 levels that are split up into three varieties: solo, fight, and race. Solo flights have you flying through an obstacle course of sorts, dodging land mines while collecting a certain amount of tokens in a certain amount of time. It’s hard to explain the feel of the solo flights, but to me they reminded me of playing the coin collecting sled races in Mario 64 for the first time. Sure, it’s a bizarre reference, but it’s the only memory I have of being wowed by a games increadible depth of scope. Just imagine stressing your propellers to fly straight up in the air to get to a hoop, flipping over for a dive bomb to avoid 3 air mines and having the screen pan way out, showing you the entire background landscape, with your next target just a bit below you. It’s a unique experience, Fight levels are basic dogfight adventures, and are surprisingly fun given the fact that you cannot turn your plane right and left. Race levels on the other hand are the bane of my existence. The first race level in the game took me about 20 tries. Maybe I’m just quite bad, but I’m convinced that the racing levels are just plain hard.

The real selling point for the game though isn’t tilt based controls or mission variety, it’s the games cinematic immersion factor. I can play all the airplane games I want on the iPhone, but this is the only one makes you really feel like you are experiencing something. Dogfights, my favorite of the level types, have you twisting and flipping around the screen, albeit in a straight line, in an attempt to get your machine guns in line. The thrill of dive-bombing with the ground rapidly approaching, hearing the sound of your engine spin out of control, while shooting down an unsuspecting plane from above is an experience that is unique to Aera alone.

Aera truly is a fun game, and at $2.99, is at a palatable price given the extremely high production value. People will probably complain about the lack of replay value, with only local 1v1 multiplayer available at the moment, but the developers are promising more levels and more things to do in future updates. If you are a fan of airplane games, or just enjoy ‘pretty’, pick this one up today. You won’t regret it.

Iphone Media
3G iPhone Downloads!


Aera

Aera, Games, Reviews, airplane, biplane, dogfight, iChromo
Developer: iChromo
Price: $2.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0

Graphics / Sound Rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 4.35 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 4.45 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 3.4 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 4.12 out of 5 stars

I covered Aera back in July right when I saw the very first released screenshots from iChromo. Coming from a seemingly small developer and being so unique, I felt like it was my civic duty to show everyone the sheer beauty of the game. I knew that the screenshots were from a very early build, but they were already something to behold.

IMG_0274

After a good three month wait, Aera finally dropped onto the App Store. I knew the game would be pretty, but I really had no idea what I was expecting in terms of gameplay. What we have here is a hybrid 3D biplane shooter on a two dimensional playing field. Basically, your plane can move only backwards and forwards along the screen, allowing for as many twists and (up and down) turns as you feel like performing. The controls of the game are quite simple. All of the games movement uses tilt controls, and they are quite fluid, allowing this game to work as well as it does. Moving the plane up and down requires just a quick tilt your phone to the right and left, while performing a quick tilt away from you flips your plane upside down. Other touch controls include the ability to touch anywhere on the right edge of the screen to shoot, a rechargeable speed boost in the top left, and homing missiles/mines on the bottom, which are undoubtedly pretty useful.

IMG_0280

The entire game includes 10 levels that are split up into three varieties: solo, fight, and race. Solo flights have you flying through an obstacle course of sorts, dodging land mines while collecting a certain amount of tokens in a certain amount of time. It’s hard to explain the feel of the solo flights, but to me they reminded me of playing the coin collecting sled races in Mario 64 for the first time. Sure, it’s a bizarre reference, but it’s the only memory I have of being wowed by a games increadible depth of scope. Just imagine stressing your propellers to fly straight up in the air to get to a hoop, flipping over for a dive bomb to avoid 3 air mines and having the screen pan way out, showing you the entire background landscape, with your next target just a bit below you. It’s a unique experience, Fight levels are basic dogfight adventures, and are surprisingly fun given the fact that you cannot turn your plane right and left. Race levels on the other hand are the bane of my existence. The first race level in the game took me about 20 tries. Maybe I’m just quite bad, but I’m convinced that the racing levels are just plain hard.

The real selling point for the game though isn’t tilt based controls or mission variety, it’s the games cinematic immersion factor. I can play all the airplane games I want on the iPhone, but this is the only one makes you really feel like you are experiencing something. Dogfights, my favorite of the level types, have you twisting and flipping around the screen, albeit in a straight line, in an attempt to get your machine guns in line. The thrill of dive-bombing with the ground rapidly approaching, hearing the sound of your engine spin out of control, while shooting down an unsuspecting plane from above is an experience that is unique to Aera alone.

Aera truly is a fun game, and at $2.99, is at a palatable price given the extremely high production value. People will probably complain about the lack of replay value, with only local 1v1 multiplayer available at the moment, but the developers are promising more levels and more things to do in future updates. If you are a fan of airplane games, or just enjoy ‘pretty’, pick this one up today. You won’t regret it.

Iphone Media
3G iPhone Downloads!




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